Ex council employee jailed for child porn addiction

EVEN after police found thousands of child porn images and videos on his computer, David John Cox couldn’t stop himself.The former Rockhampton Regional Council project manager’s addiction intensified.

Cox had downloaded more than 60,000 child pornography photos on his computer.

Some of those were adults having intercourse with babies, a court heard yesterday. The 38-year-old pleaded guilty in the Rockhampton District Court to two counts of using a carriage service to access child pornography and two counts of possessing child exploitation material.

Judge Leanne Clare sentenced Cox to five years in prison after police found explicit material on four monitors and a computer tower at his Gracemere home. Cox had his “sophisticated” technology system linked to a child pornography network.

Crown prosecutor Peter O’Connor said Cox had categorised all the images and videos stored on his computer into five levels based on how explicit they were. Category five, described by Mr O’Connor, as containing the most graphic and gruesome images, contained photos of bestiality and sexual acts between children. Police searched Mr Cox’s Gracemere home in January 2011 and found the “elaborate” network system, which contained more than 7500 child exploitation images and 918 “category five” videos.

Council staffer’s child porn charge

Emma McBryde | 1st December 2011

THOUSANDS of child pornography images have been discovered on a computer allegedly owned by a Rockhampton Regional Council engineer.

The images were found on David John Cox’s computer at his Gracemere home during an ongoing joint operation, called Operation Talon 5, between Queensland Police Service and the Crime and Misconduct Commission.

The 37-year-old yesterday made a brief appearance in Rockhampton Magistrates Court charged with possession of child exploitation material and using a carriage service for access to child pornography.

Cox was not required to enter a plea.

Police prosecutor Sergeant Kevin Ongheen did not provide the court with any details relating to the alleged offences.

Constable Jeremy Robinson, of the Rockhampton Child Protection and Investigation Unit, said forensics officers were still searching the hard drive for images and could not comment on how many more images might be found.

Cox did not apply for bail and was remanded in custody to appear in Rockhampton Magistrates Court again on December 14.